For decades, the city has received complaints about the geese and the nuisance they cause.

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The city’s geese appear -for the most part, but not entirely - to be a white, domestic type called Embden or Bremen. Domestic geese as a rule don’t fly but some if motivated, can lift off the ground and fly a few feet.

These geese, however, aren’t domestic in the sense that anyone is feeding or caring for them or, cleaning up after them. And, like other geese that are often used in place of a guard dog, they can be vicious.

On at least one occasion the geese “barricaded” the post office, intimidating customers, said St. Louis City Manager Bob McConkie.

They’ve been known to harass residents, raise a loud racket, and cause traffic to stop while they cross the road. In general, residents have complained about the nuisance of the geese and their “antics”, he said.

Usually, the gaggle can be found at the city’s electric plant right by the river, but they have been known to wander uptown in search of food.

Last month, city council members asked Dori Foster, the city’s community services coordinator and code enforcement officer, to conduct a search for a company that could capture the geese and relocate them to some place “like a farm,” McConkie said.

Some of the geese were removed in similar fashion several years ago, but the gaggle has repopulated again to about 15 to 25, McConkie said.

But at Tuesday’s meeting, three residents - one of whom claimed responsibility for introducing the geese to the city - asked the city to keep the geese.

The city also received a call from another resident who wasn’t able to attend the meeting and she stated that she too liked the geese, McConkie said.

“They think they’re pretty, they like to feed them,” McConkie said the residents told the council members. “They provide children with a sense of nature.”

Birds of a may feather flock together, but if one kind of geese can’t be with its own kind, it will flock with the next best kind, according to Kevin McGowan an ornithologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and published in the Southside Sentinal, a Virginia newspaper.

“Geese are social animals,” he said.

Enter the Canada fly boys.

Since at least two of the geese have different markings and coloring, it appears some of the domestic geese may have mated with Canada geese.

It’s a popular belief that hybrids can’t fly either, but there are reports that some do indeed fly, even though they may not be quite as small and light as their flying cousins. They generally can’t fly as well and may be more vulnerable to predators.

It’s also believed that they cannot reproduce but there are several reports on the Internet claiming that there are lots of exceptions to that rule, as well.

Embed or Bremen geese, bred for meat, can weigh up to 34 pounds and can live 20 or 25 years. They lay from 20 to 40 eggs in a season.

The city council took no action and is waiting for Foster’s report before making a decision on the geese.

About the Author

Linda Gittleman’s alma mater is Western Michigan University where she majored in speech and English and her hometown is Alma. She’s worked at the Morning Sun's Alma office for more than 20 years. Reach the author at lgittleman@michigannewspapers.com
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